


Into The Sunset

by DGCatAniSiri



Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 07:24:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6895366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DGCatAniSiri/pseuds/DGCatAniSiri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kreia has been defeated, so what choice will the Exile make next?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into The Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place in the same version of events as '[Where You Are](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2321672),' but can be read independently of it.

When the body of Kreia fell, Dak Hain had a sense of sadness. For all that she’d done, for all she’d threatened, he had believed her when she said that she’d cared for him. He knew that he’d done nothing more than she’d wanted from her in delivering that last blow. She’d cared most about people taking on the burdens of their choices, the rewards and the consequences both. Her decisions had led to this point, with him standing over her body, having dealt a deadly blow on her in order to prevent a greater tragedy.

He found his legs buckling at the realization that it truly was over. He’d dealt with the Sith, or at least, those who’d used the name of the Sith. They were the inheritors of the title, but he didn’t think that they’d particularly been ‘the Sith.’ If there was one thing he’d come to take from Kreia’s teachings, it was that the Force, and Force users, were so much more than any simple distinction like light or dark, Jedi or Sith. 

He reached out and gently closed Kreia’s eyes. No matter what else, she’d been a teacher for him, had protected him, aided him. He wasn’t even certain if she’d truly sought the death of the Force and, by extension, those who drew upon it, or if she’d just led him to believe she was in order to bring him here, to this place where he had a further choice – return to the Republic, rebuild the Jedi, prepare them for a threat that was waiting, but uncertain, or go out in search of Revan, who, from what she’d said, had gone in search of this threat of the ‘true’ Sith. Whatever the case, he would offer her this final bit of respect. If nothing else, she hadn’t been shown that in life by several of her apprentices. 

He wondered what he should do with her body. It felt disrespectful to leave her behind, but he wasn’t about to walk through the halls of the ‘Trayus Academy’ while carrying her corpse. There could easily still be more dark Jedi in the facility, and there was no way he’d be able to put up a fight against them while carrying her body.

He reluctantly came to the conclusion that he was going to have to leave her behind. She’d probably prefer it that way, anyway. Her body was a shell, what she’d cared about were her teachings, which he would carry with him long after he’d left this place. Caring about her remains would likely just seem a waste of sentimentality. He began the trek back through the... He really didn’t want to call it an academy. This was a place of death, not of learning. The ‘facility,’ then, if he had to think of it as anything. He started his way back down the way to the doors he’d entered the ‘Trayus Core’ from. 

There was a sensation to the facility now. The echoed storms of the Mass Shadow Generator’s effects were audible still, he couldn’t call it a quiet or a calm. But it was a sensation, something he felt. Whether it was in the Force or just some innate sense in the human body... A storm was ending. It wasn’t over yet, but it was in the air that it would be soon. This place had served its purpose, whatever that might have been – to house knowledge, to train students, or simply serve as the final confrontation for him and Kreia.

It was only as he reached the hall where he’d faced Sion, had watched as the Sith Lord’s body finally gave in to the demand the scars and wounds and cracks that had formed his skin cried out for and let go, that Dak recognized what his own body was telling him – He’d pushed and pushed his body, and it’d hit its limit. It would go no further until he had recuperated, and did so by way of more than simply calling on the Force to soothe the joints and fortify him.

He tried to resist that impulse, the need burning in him to lay down and sleep. He was in unfamiliar territory, he’d already fought several dark Jedi, who knew if there were any left in this place he’d missed, his friends and companions were missing and he could only reliably locate them with the Ebon Hawk’s sensors... He had a dozen reasons to remain standing, to keep going. But his body refused to listen to his collection of reasons and pitched him forward, shutting down. 

And then, the worst part. He could hear a door sliding open and sets of footsteps approaching him. Expecting dark Jedi, he struggled to keep his eyes open, but failed, and even the sound of voices became indistinct and impossible to make out as blackness overtook him.

***

Dak’s Jedi training and time as a soldier had worn away any sense of confusion upon waking up. He was always quickly conscious, ready to be involved in a fight.

Waking up in the Ebon Hawk’s medbay was a surprise he hadn’t been expecting. 

As he pulled himself upright, recognizing the familiar setting and being put at ease by it, he heard a brief alert sound, likely to let anyone monitoring him to come and check on him. Moments after it went off, the small corridor out of the medbay was filled with several people. 

And Dak was relieved to see all of them. 

Immediately after entering, Mical moved to check the medical equipment. “You’re awake,” he said. Dak could hear the relief in his voice. “I was worried we’d gotten you here too late.”

“I told you there was nothing to worry about,” Atton said, though Dak didn’t need the Force to tell him that he was covering how pleased he was to see Dak awake.

Neither did Mira, who scoffed. “You were in here every day for the last three,” she said, though there was no bite to her words. Still, Atton shot her a glare for her unsolicited remark. She was unimpressed.

“We were all concerned,” stated Visas, though Dak could even hear in her gentle tone the sound of relief.

“When you feel you are able, I’d like to know what happened,” Brianna stated. She held herself slightly apart from the others, probably still feeling the distance between them after having taken Kreia to Atris. 

And her words were enough to cause Atton to scowl. “Hey, he nearly died. Let’s save the interrogation for after he’s had a chance to get his strength back, huh?”

“Indeed,” Mical said, finishing his consultation with the medical readouts. “While Dak appears to be recovering well, he’s still sustained serious injuries that require attention.” He turned to Dak with a stern expression. “And a great deal of rest. I’ve applied kolto where I can, but you’d be better served with full immersion in a kolto tank. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be an option, since it will be some time yet before we can make our way back into Republic space. Malachor V is... WAS rather off the beaten path.”

“Was?” Dak asked. Despite the Mass Shadow Generator having crushed the planet, there’d still been enough compacted debris left to leave a planetoid shaped object. It had still, in some manner, existed.

“As the Ebon Hawk left orbit, some kind of signal went out over what was left out there,” Atton said. “We couldn’t figure out where it came from. But, uh... Bao-Dur’s remote isn’t here anymore.” 

It took a few moments for that to sink in. Bao-Dur had disappeared after they’d reached Telos and the Citadel, along with HK-47. Bao-Dur had left his remote behind, which had, for Dak, indicated that wherever he’d gone, he hadn’t intended to come back. But if the remote had vanished... “Bao-Dur had some programing left in the remote, something tied to returning to Malachor V?” 

“That’s what we believe,” Mical stated. “There’s no evidence, but it seems to fit the facts.” He looked to the others. “His vitals seem stable, but I’m still going to have to ask that we allow him time to rest. Properly, I mean. Legitimate sleep, rather than exhaustion.” Mical’s voice said he’d brook no argument.

It encouraged Mira, Brianna, and Visas to step out, back into the main hold. Only Atton held off. He looked between Mical and Dak. Mical looked over Dak, then wordlessly nodded, though he shook his head as he walked out of the medical bay, allow Atton and Dak some privacy.

Atton stepped fully inside, allowing the hatch to close behind him. There was a moment of uncertainty as the two of them stared at each other. Dak shifted slightly, allowing enough room for Atton to sit on the bed beside him. “These light freighters seem to think that one person being injured at a time is common,” Dak offered.

That got a chuckle out of Atton, breaking the ice somewhat. “Well, for most smugglers, they are. They don’t normally expect to be carrying around crews quite this big. Even rarer for... them to be carrying around... loved ones.”

That put a weight in between them. Love. They’d admitted that they both felt something for the other, even shared a kiss before reaching Citadel station. There had been no time to breathe, to stop and think about what would come next. And, honestly, both of them had had moments during the fighting that they’d doubted that they’d make it out alive, make it back to the other.

It surprised Dak to feel a Force presence, gently poking at him, as if knocking on a door. He looked to Atton, and knew it was coming from him. The look in his eyes... It was giving him permission. Dak used the Force to skim the thoughts of Atton’s mind. There was the usual surface thoughts, and Dak was surprised to realize that Atton wasn’t playing paazak in his head. He understood what the gesture meant for Atton – he played paazak to prevent any Force user from reading his mind. But he wanted Dak to be able to tell what he was thinking right now. 

His feelings were unchanged by anything that they’d gone through, and he wanted to remain by Dak’s side, as long as the Exile would have him.

That was the concern for Dak, though. Kreia had said there was something lurking beyond the borders of the Republic. The True Sith, she had called them. Where they gathered, apparently, was where Revan had gone. Whether or not he had gone to stop them or join them was anyone’s guess, given that Revan seemed to be the only one capable of understanding Revan’s motivations – he’d been interpreted for Dak by Kreia, Goto, HK, even Admiral Onasi, and Dak still thought there was more to Revan he’d yet to even consider. 

Dak knew he had to go after him, after the True Sith. And Kreia had said he must not take those he loved with him on that journey. Why, she hadn’t said, just that he must not. He could defy that, of course, as Kreia’s ideology had preached self-sufficiency, to the point that you could not and should not rely on anyone unless you were actively manipulating them, an ideal and belief that Dak knew he would never embrace. He considered his connections a strength. That had been how he’d recovered a connection to the Force, by being able to draw on those connections that surrounded him.

But that had also been her moment of truth, the point that she’d willingly abandoned all the lies and half-truths and been completely honest. She’d meant everything she’d said, which had included the command of going alone, to allow the Lost Jedi, as she’d called them, to rebuild the Order. That to bring loved ones along would be to ‘bring doom’ to them.

It was a difficult thought. He and Atton were in love, he could admit that. The idea that they’d been brought together, only to be parted so abruptly, and potentially for the rest of their lives...

In a split second, he knew that Kreia’s prediction was one he’d risk. He’d wandered in places of the galaxy that were dead, barren, empty. He could not accept returning to that. The Jedi had preached that attachments, loved ones, would bring a Jedi closer to the dark side. But those same Jedi had said he’d fallen to the dark side, had followed Revan’s path, even though they’d said so as Dak had returned from the Mandalorian Wars. The demand that the Jedi live their lives without attachments, without love... The Jedi had been wrong before. The idea that they were right about this thing that made Dak feel stronger... He couldn’t accept that.

Even as he lowered his own mental barriers for Atton to feel his thoughts and feelings, he moved towards the scoundrel turned Jedi. He grabbed the leather of Atton’s jacket and pulled him in. He could feel the relief and even joy at the act pouring off of Atton. He probably didn’t even need the Force to realize that. 

They held the kiss for long moments, grateful that they had this chance to take further steps down this path together. When they parted, Dak had gripped Atton’s shoulders, and Atton’s hands were clinging to his arms. They rested their foreheads against one another, savoring the physical contact. “When we lost contact with you... I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again,” Atton admitted softly. 

“I wasn’t sure I was coming back,” Dak said. “I thought... There was a part of me that was certain that I wouldn’t make it through it. I honestly didn’t know if I’d survive.”

“I knew you would,” Atton said, though of course, he knew Dak could feel the truth in his mind, that he’d been just as afraid for him as Dak had been. “It was never a question.”

Dak smiled, just enjoying Atton’s closeness for a moment. But there were things that still needed to be addressed. “Atton... There’s still work to be done.”

“Don’t you ever rest?” Atton asked. “You just saved the galaxy. The Jedi will rebuild, you don’t need to worry about them.”

“It’s not just the Jedi. I trust Mical and the others, they can make a better Order than what existed before. It’s... There’s still something out there. Something that Revan went to deal with. And... And I think I have to follow his path.”

For a moment, Atton was quiet, taking that in. His hands slipped from Dak’s arms. “You’re going after Revan. On some... incredibly dangerous mission, into the depths of the Unknown Regions>”

“Yes.”

“And the odds of you ever coming back?” Dak’s silence was answer enough. “Why would you tell me this? Why would you let me... How can you do this to me?”

It took a moment for Dak to realize what Atton was thinking. “Atton... I’m going after Revan. I have to. But I wasn’t planning on going alone.”

That brought Atton up short. He was silence for a moment, his brain catching up to his emotions. “You... You’re not going alone?”

“Not if you’ll come with me. Atton... I never want to be parted from you again. I’ve been alone. I wandered the far ends of the galaxy for ten years. I wandered, never connecting, never... Never really caring, always on the move, as if... as if it would give me some kind of peace. I thought I’d found it, but... If I compare how I feel with you at my side, it’s not even close to the same.” Dak paused, allowing that to sink in before he shared the rest – Atton deserved to make this decision with all the information available to him. “You should know, though, that Kreia... She predicted that if I went on this journey, if I broke with the Jedi way of no attachments, if you came with me... doom would fall upon any who came with me.”

He could see on Atton’s face his thoughts on that – ‘well, that’s a great choice, thanks for that.’ He didn’t exactly disagree with the assessment. Still, he took a moment to think about it before responding. “So you’re saying that you want me to go with you, but you want it to be my choice?”

“You said following me this far was your choice,” Dak said, referring to their conversation before reaching Citadel Station. “It’s your choice to go any further. I won’t tell you I need you to come. I want you to, but... If you want to stay, I will understand.”

“That’s some choice,” Atton said with a bit of a harrumph. “You just get through telling me how much you want to be with me, that you want me to come with you, knowing where I stand with you, and then tell me you want me to choose.” There was no malice to his words, though. He knew too well that this man he’d come to love had a burning sense of responsibility. He’d gone to fight in the Mandalorian War, he’d returned to the Jedi afterwards, and he’d chosen to go after the Jedi Masters to stand against the Sith. When he felt he was responsible, that he was needed, he answered that call. That willingness to take on those responsibilities, ones that Atton had, in his past, been known to run from... It was, in all honesty, one of the things that had drawn Atton to him. He wanted to be worthy of this man.

“I know it’s a lot to ask. I won’t ask it of anyone else. Mira, Mical, Brianna, Visas... They need to rebuild the Jedi. You could help them. You could go your own way. I won’t make you do anything. I want to stay with you. I want... I want a lot of things.” Dak laughed. “Wanting things... feels so strange, given the way I was raised with the Jedi. I want to be selfish, after a lifetime spent being told I must be selfless, that I must give up the things that I was meant to protect for others. I’m not the one to rebuild the Jedi. I’m not even sure I am a Jedi anymore.”

“Then why? Why are you going after Revan? Why do that... if you’re not a Jedi?” 

It was a good question. Dak was one man, not truly a Jedi anymore. He could easily just let go of the responsibility now. The Jedi were sworn defenders of the galaxy. The Jedi were the ones who made every effort to stem the tide of the ever-encroaching darkness. The Jedi took on the weight of worlds, even if no one asked. But a man... A man could walk away from that.

The only problem was that Dak couldn’t walk away. He’d returned to the Jedi to face their judgment. He’d adhered to that judgment, even though a true exile was more self-imposed than anything the Jedi had truly been capable of enforcing. He had made the choices that led to it, and he had carried the burden of the consequences of those choices. 

And here he was, taking on yet another burden.

“I don’t believe anyone else can do this, Atton. If the Sith are ever going to be defeated, truly defeated, not simply pushed down and sent into dormancy... I think it can’t be a Jedi who faces them. Kreia was Jedi, then she was Sith, then neither.”

“I can’t believe you’re actually saying you’re going to follow her example,” Atton muttered, shaking his head. Dak understood the sentiment, given how contentious Atton and Kreia’s relationship had been.

“She trained Revan once. He’s out there, somewhere. Facing this threat. And... he can’t do it without help. I have to go.”

It took a moment for Atton to come to a decision. He finally just smiled, shaking his head. “I suppose you’re going to need some company. I mean, if I’m not around to bail you out of trouble, who knows what’ll happen to you, right?” Dak could hear the undercurrent of his words – he might not want to go out and bear the burden of fighting more Sith, but he also would not be parted from his side. That core of a good man had always been in Atton, and now it was out in the open.

Dak smiled. “I love you.” The words hadn’t been said before, but if ever Dak needed to say them, it was now.

And it brought Atton up short for a moment. He smiled gently at Dak, expressing the sentiment back at him. “I love you,” he said. He came in for another kiss, gentle, sweet, chaste. But Dak could feel how Atton felt about him in the gesture, and poured the sensations of his love through the Force to him.

Then, Atton pulled away, a smile playing on his features. He then cleared his throat, almost pretending he hadn’t been kissing Dak. “So, where are we going? See, because last time, we were heading for this mining colony of the edge of space, and there was this Sith Lord, and...”

The Ebon Hawk could continue on to Citadel Station, deposit the others there, allow them to rebuild the Jedi, go about their lives. And then, Dak and Atton, with T3’s assistance, would find Revan. And they’d do it together.

No matter what predictions had been seen by Kreia, Dak knew that this was the only way that he could go forward – with Atton at his side.


End file.
